Tuesday, June 28, 2016

If you want to learn more about my challenge: Running a 5k in every borough in London August 6 & 7, please go here! Interested in RUNNING a borough with me? Check this out! I am running for CrisisUK, and you can donate to the cause here.

The thing with long distance challenges is that you really should put some miles in (aka training) before the big day. This can be easier said than done. Why? Reality.

There are just some days you can't drag yourself out of bed at 0545 for a run. No problem, I will run during lunch. Well too bad work has other plans and you can barely scarf down your food let alone a workout session. Thats fine! I can run after work! Nope not gonna happen, you have plans. Granted, you can cancel plans, but after a few times your friends will stop asking you and you also ultimately feel horrible bailing... again.

This doesn't even include weekends, the holy days of LSR. The issue is I try to do TWO LSR's in a weekend. When in a relationship, that makes things difficult. Spouses make plans you forgot about, or (again) YOU make plans YOU forget about. So it's up at 0545 (or earlier) to again squeeze a run in.

It all starts to wear you down.

Most days now I am in bed by 10:30. I can barely stay awake, my teenage ghost of myself is very disappointed and has locked herself in her room. I went out with friends the other weekend and I left before my pregnant friend. Not too much before I was assured, but still a bit sad on my part. At a party on Sunday I was talking to friends who were out till 4 in the morning. Sometimes I wake up about 30 minutes or so later to go run. I lament my lost evenings.

But at the pre-race seminars they had at the Shrewsbury half the other weekend, one of the speakers said it's important to remember your WHY. Why do you do whatever regime you are doing? When the going gets tough, you better have a good reason, else you will start to falter. A little wavering is normal, and yes sometimes rest is a very good thing (yay taper!). However, you need to always keep that passion burning else you will have a very hard time staying on the bandwagon.

So when your friends are going out for 'one more drink' or you think about hitting your snooze button 'one more time'- remember your WHY.

I am also thinking about how much sleep I am going to get when it's all over.

Friday, June 10, 2016

If you want to learn more about my challenge: Running a 5k in every borough in London in one weekend, please go here! I am running for CrisisUK, and you can donate to the cause here.
It was Wednesday evening and I was trying to psych myself up for the RunThrough Chase the Sun Race in Hyde Park. I do not know if it was just the tiredness of attending a conference and socialising or what. It was just one of those days I could not get motivated.Happy Me: The weather is lovely! Not Happy Me:It's too hot.Happy Me: You get a flapjack at the end! Not Happy Me: I don't deserve to eat a flapjack.Happy Me: You hardly ever run in Hyde Park, what a treat! Not Happy Me:I hate loops.

This continued up until the start. I figured I should run the 5k at least and then run home, making it a normal 10k run day. The gun goes off and I start my plod.

About 1k in I am feeling better. I start to pick up my pace a bit. This is a short run so I may as well make the most of it. I was still feeling slow and meh.

1st loop done! Only one more loop! Whoo!

I notice I have a lurker behind me. You know, you start to notice the same footfall noise behind you for too long and realise you got someone 'following' you. Pacing along with you....

At 4k for some reason (I blame a duck) I slowed down, the footfall passes me in a blur of blue. A bloke! Amazing! I decide to give him a run for his money and I tried to shorten the distance between us. He beats me (barely) across the line. My name is called out-- finishing in just under 25 minutes. A 7:53 mile, which for me nowadays is quite speedy.

The man who paced to me turned around and said "You had a great pace for the last loop, I was just following you home... why did you slow down?!"

That gave me a glow inside, to know that even though I thought everything was going wrong on the run and I was not in a great mood, someone thought I was doing a great enough job that they got along for the ride. So those after-school specials are right, you never know who is looking up to you or following your lead, so it's best to just crack on.

Thursday, June 2, 2016

If you want to learn more about my challenge: Running a 5k in every borough in London in one weekend, please go here! I am running for CrisisUK, and you can donate to the cause here.

I released my May Newsletter and you can find it online at Google Docs. I won't retype everything in there, but May was quite a month! I also wanted to provide some additional updates:

SWAG

I am hoping to give a little token of my appreciation for people helping me on my challenge. I won't reveal it until I get them, but hopefully that will sweeten the pot and get people to take the plunge and run a 5k with me!

World Record? Guess Not!

So the Guinness Book of World Records got back to me and said my challenge was not going to be a qualifier to be placed in their hallowed record books. This kinda sucks and I may try to resubmit, but it's no big deal.

Running Mojo

If you have been following me on Instagram or Twitter, you know I am on the South Coast at the moment. As much as I love London, it's wonderful to get out and explore new routes in new places. This morning was a bit grey, and it made a nice ambiance for a run around Christchurch Priory. However, as the day progressed, the clouds finally broke and I just -had- to get another run in along the coast. How can you not go for a run when you have views like this? Thats the Isle of Wight in the distance.